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December 27, 2006

"The Conversation"

This past Boxing Day, I went for a jog in Christie Pitts only to find a racist and ignorant message scrawled across the door of the rest room. At first I felt pissed-off and assaulted. Then I thought to myself, "F*ck that!!! Children play in this park. Elderly Korean men and women play croquet in this park. Latin youth play pick-up volleyball in this park. White and Black kids play basketball in this park. Decades ago there were race-riots in this park. My family played in this park. This is our park."

So...I decided to respond to this message.

Posted by Jason at 7:08 PM | Comments (3)

December 15, 2006

Art and Activism: Meet the World Campaign

I found this on Good magazine's website. Brazilian artist, Icaro Doria, creates infographics using flags from various countries. Don't know if the stats are supposed to be accurate but Doria's work definitely makes you think.

FYI: Look out for a review of Good in the next posting.

Posted by Jason at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

December 8, 2006

Reality Check

My mother-in-law sent this to me this morning. Talk about a reality check. It's a strange thing to feel insignificant and yet empowered. These numbers inspire me. Hopefully they will inspire you too.

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If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100
people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would
look something like the following:

There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be nonwhite
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all
6 would be from
The United States of America
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need
for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

The following is also something to ponder...

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness....you are more
blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation you are
ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest,
torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the
world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead
and a place to sleep...you are richer than 70% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish
someplace . you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you can read this message, you're more blessed than over two billion
people in the world that cannot read at all.

Give Thanks, Live in Joy and help those less fortunate as you are able.

Posted by Jason at 9:25 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack